title: Mid-infrared ZBLAN fiber supercontinuum source using picosecond diode-pumping at 2 µm.
abstract: We present the first demonstration of mid-IR supercontinuum generation directly pumped with picosecond pulses from a Thulium fiber-amplified gain-switched laser diode at 2 µm. We achieve more than two octaves of bandwidth from 750 - 4000 nm in step-index ZBLAN fiber with Watt-level average power and spectral flatness of less than 1.5 dB over a 1300 nm range in the mid-IR from 2450 - 3750 nm. The system offers high stability, power-scaling capability to the 10 W regime, and demonstrates an attractive route towards relatively inexpensive, versatile and practical sources of high power broadband mid-IR radiation.
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Heidt
authors.forename: J H V
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Price
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Baskiotis
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Feehan
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: S U
authors.initials: SU
authors.lastname: Alam
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Richardson